Let us issue shares fed with some results of our economy to all of us, and then worship these.

Sir, Rana Foroohar asking “At what point does bad corporate behavior become willful malfeasance?” writes, “Facebook is the natural culmination of 40 years of business worshipping at the altar of shareholder value.” “Facebook puts growth over governance” December 25.

Really? If all the incredible developments around Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft and similar, results from “worshipping at the altar of shareholder value” then perhaps we should issue a share to each citizens that feeds on a substantial part of profits, like those of Facebook, or taxes, like carbon taxes, and have us all worshipping these shares, instead of trusting the acts of genius politicians or bureaucrats with agendas of their own. 

Those shares, which would pay out an equal unconditional societal dividend to all of us, is by the way what a Universal Basic Income is all about. 

Of course, as usually comes with new developments, there are new and serious problems, and data privacy is one of them. Foroohar asks “ Have we reached one of those watersheds when US and European authorities are going to step up and do something about it? Let us beware, there’s no guarantee that would not be even worse. 

Foroohar says she is reminded of “bank executives who had no understanding of the risks built into their balance sheets until markets started to blow up during the 2008 financial crisis” 

I am though more reminded of regulators who allowed banks to leverage over 60 times their equity with what rated as AAA could be very dangerous to our bank system, and less that 8.3 times with what rated below BB- bankers do not like to touch with a ten feet pole. I am reminded of regulators who assigned a risk weight of 0% to the sovereign of Greece, and thereby doomed that nation to its tragedy.

@PerKurowski

A Universal Basic Income is a prime free market oriented “instrument of national togetherness”

Sir, Janan Ganesh writes about how the fact that “America has a large, complex and redistributive state…with some public assent”, has moved the floor for many traditional republicans, and has favored Trump”, “The end of the Republican free-market ticket”, August 2.

If you are a democrat or a republican who do not belong to the establishment, and who do not like the idea of having to court bureaucrats for any assistance that might be needed more and more, how do you deal with that?

As a Venezuelan, nauseated from seeing how its government has handled centralized oil revenues, I pray for all citizens to be in their own hands, using the free markets to decide what to do, than for them to be in the hands of odious redistribution profiteers. And so I do favor a Universal Basic Income.

And I believe an UBI could also signify a very important unifying bridge sorely needed in a world with so much polarization.

Of course since redistribution profiteering or the exploitation of crony statism exist in all political camps, we should expect all its enemies to circle their wagons and do what they can to stop UBI from reducing the value of their franchise. One of their first lines of defense, is helping to push an UBI into promising way too much, so that it clearly become fiscally unsustainable. Another one is arguing that would exacerbate social laziness.

I have no idea where long-term a UBI would lead us, but I wish we could start with one small enough to help everyone to get out of bed, but not so large so as to allow anyone to stay in bed. Around the corner, or probably in many ways even here, we will need decent and worthy unemployments, and UBI must surely be part of the toolbox for that. 

As a UBI does in fact represent a Societal Dividend, it should appeal to both those who want more free markets and those who focus more on social responsibilities. That sounds very much like an instrument for the centre-left-right to embrace the free market and “the state as an instrument of national togetherness”.

http://myubi.blogspot.com/2017/01/my-universal-basic-income.html

@PerKurowski

A Universal Basic Income, a Societal Dividend, needs always to be slightly small, so as never risk being too large.

Sir Ralph Atkins and Gemma Tetlow report that “Swiss vote against basic income provision” “Welfare systems” June 6.

I support Universal Basic Income, for me it is a Societal Dividend, but I would have voted NO in the referendum. 2.500 Swiss Francs, about US$3.500 monthly, about 50 percent of the Swiss GDP per capita is way too large for a “Basic”. In Switzerland, something like $1.000, perhaps expressed as a percentage of GDP or of average or median salaries, would be a much more reasonable level at which to start this social experiment.

And of course the idea of those working not getting the UBI plays directly into the hands of those arguing that UBI could cause people to work less.

So what is a Societal Dividend or a Citizen's Dividend of that kind proposed by Thomas Paine? Here is my personal take on it.

It is a basic amount transferred to anyone independent of having been able to capitalize on society’s strengths and accumulated assets, like having been able to get a good job.

It could be seen as an effort to grease the real economy by combating the natural concentrations of wealth.

It could be seen as a substitute for many those redistribution efforts that because of their complexity, is bound to attract the profiteers.

It is a well-funded transfer, no funny money, from citizens to citizens, or from natural resources inherited by an Act of God, but not depending on government favors. It could therefore be seen as an effort by citizens to become more independent of that populism and demagoguery that often lies behind all societal redistribution.

Also the way it is funded, can help to align the incentives for other societal causes, for instance if with carbon taxes, with the efforts for a better environment.

But a Societal Dividend should never ever be so large so as to risk de-capitalizing the Society or induce generalized lazyness.

@PerKurowski ©

PS. In other words the Swiss UBI referendum was set up to fail... probably by some anxious redistribution profiteers L

Universal Basic Income is a Societal Dividend, paid mostly by reducing the margins of the redistribution profiteers

Sir, John Thornhill and Ralph Atkins discuss the Universal Basic Income proposals flying around. “Money for nothing”, May 27

If anyone should stand up for ideas like the Universal Basic Income, that would be the poor of Venezuela. Out of an incredible oil boom, the 21st Century Socialism gave them less than 15 percent of what should have been their fair equal per capita share of those revenues. The rest was mostly swindled away by redistribution profiteers, wasted away by incapable government besserwissers or captured by “better-positioned” citizens.

For a Venezuelan to read about “Labor leaders… wary of introducing UBI, fearing it might only be used by rightwing politicians to shred the existing welfare state. By setting the rate too low and withdrawing other welfare benefits, it could end up hurting the very people it was designed to help most”, is sadly laughable.

And “the superficially preposterous idea of handing out an unconditional basic income of a year to every citizen, regardless of work, wealth or their social contribution”, a participation in the society, is not much more preposterous than a citizen inheriting some shares of a corporation that gives him the right to a dividend.

Also if we could only separate the redistribution from other government activities it would be so much easier to know what is happening, and therefore be better able to resist the calls of populist demagogues.

But the Universal Basic Income, to really fulfill its purpose needs to be the result of a citizens-to-citizens societal agreement, a Societal Dividend, or a Citizen's Dividend of that sort proposed by Thomas Paine; and not just a handout by governments and politicians that citizens need to be grateful for. On the contrary one of its major benefits it that it reduces the forced citizen submissiveness to those who dole out "the favors". Again, just look at the Venezuelans, suffering all type of humiliations, even being taunted and insulted, and not much happens.

And Universal Basic Income plans, if funded by carbon and petrol taxes would help to align the incentives for the fight against climate change with that of the fight against inequality.

And Universal Basic Income could be the first step in order to create decent and worthy conditions for that structural unemployment that seems to be growing. 

And let us be frank, if the Universal Basic Income is not offered voluntarily, and inequality grows, there will be many less voluntary and much harder options flying around for redistribution.

Universal Basic Income, is not “Money for nothing”, it might very well be money for better chances of the societal peace, which is required to achieve more and better development.

Universal Basic Income is not about assigning governments more power. On the contrary it is about wrestling redistribution powers from their hands.

@PerKurowski ©